WHY IS RUNESCAPE SO CONFUSING

I WANNA PLAY RUNESCAPE BUT I DONT KNOW WHERE TO START

i know about the normal stuff in mmos like farming small level guys to get better stuff, but i am so bad at combat. 

QUESTION TIME!!!!

1: is runescape like minecraft, where you can ignore leveling, and playing the game, or just build a house and farm stuff?

2: if i want to change my appearance, how do i do that?

3: how do i level up because i have no idea if the "farm small level guys" thing actually works or if it's just something that tv shows made up